Counterclaim Defence
DefenceTimetable agreed at scoping
Claim or adjudication against you? We test the figures and evidence, build your response and support negotiations.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
Get a free report on your claim. About three minutes; no obligation.
The problem
Your account may have prompted a counterclaim for delay, defects, damage or alleged overpayment. If adjudication has already started, you also have a response deadline to meet.
Only a deduction? See Contra-Charge Claim or Delay Damages Claim.
The solution
We secure the response timetable, test each claim and build an evidenced answer. You decide what to accept, dispute or offer. If adjudication has started, we start that day and prioritise the response.
We prepare the commercial figures; your representative runs the adjudication. Legal and delay-analysis questions go to the relevant specialists.
What you get
You receive an assessment of each claim and the cost of contesting it, with a documented comparison of their figures and yours. The work includes your approved response and a written record of the outcome or the dispute that remains.
Includes a Handover Pack: key dates and sources, next steps, likely responses, scope limits and any ready-to-send letters.
Fee: Fixed fee agreed before each stage: assessment, then response and negotiations or adjudication support. For a live adjudication, all stages and fees are agreed on day one.
Turnaround: the timetable is agreed in writing at scoping and then kept.
How it works
Claim stage: Event
You tell us what has arrived
Start with a free call. We check we can act, then you send the claim and every known deadline.
We set every deadline and agree the fee
We write down every date you face, with our own deadlines at least 2 working days earlier. Once you agree the fee, you send us the paperwork in the list below.
What you get: Every date you face in writing, with the time and how your response must be sent
- A
The claim, counterclaim or referral, exactly as served
The letter, schedule, notice of adjudication or referral exactly as it arrived, appendices included and paginated.
Where to find it: Whoever received it first: the email or letter from your main contractor or its solicitor, forwarded exactly as it arrived.
Why we need it: This is the document the whole job answers. Without it, and the appendices behind every figure in it, the claim cannot be tested line by line.
How we will use it: We test every figure in it against its own build-up before a word of your answer is written.
- B
Every date that is running
The adjudicator's directions, any response date in the letter, and any Pay Less Notice or other notice the claim relies on, forwarded exactly as they arrived.
Where to find it: The same email or letter, and whoever has spoken to the adjudicator or the main contractor since.
Why we need it: In adjudication you may have only days to respond, and every one of our own deadlines is set from that.
How we will use it: We build the working timetable backward from it and confirm it to you in writing before anything else starts.
- C
The subcontract
A complete PDF or scan, every schedule and amendment included, and the main contract terms it incorporates.
Where to find it: The order email or the job's commercial folder; if it was never signed, send the last version exchanged and say so.
Why we need it: Each head of the claim is only as good as the clause it relies on. The payment, notice and adjudication rules all come from this document.
How we will use it: Every head is tested against the clause it claims under and the notices that clause requires.
- D
The account and the payment record
Your applications, the Payment Notices and Pay Less Notices received, the deductions taken and the payments actually made.
Where to find it: Whoever issues your applications, your accounts package, and the main contractor's notices in the project inbox.
Why we need it: A claim against you is often money already deducted, or about to be. The payment record shows what has been taken, when, and on what notice.
How we will use it: It fixes what is already in dispute and stops the same sum being answered, or deducted, twice.
- E
The correspondence
Forwarded as the original emails, dates, recipients and attachments intact.
Where to find it: An inbox search across the main contractor's contacts and the project name; forward threads whole rather than picking from them.
Why we need it: Instructions, admissions and warnings live in the correspondence, and their dates decide what your answer can rely on.
How we will use it: We pull from it the facts behind each answer and the exhibits the response will cite.
- F
The site records
Diaries, allocation sheets, handover and snagging records, delivery tickets and photographs, exactly as they were kept at the time.
Where to find it: The site office, the site manager's files and the team's phones.
Why we need it: An answer with a record made at the time behind it is far harder to dismiss than a recollection, however true the recollection is.
How we will use it: Each answer is evidenced from them, and we say plainly where the only material is a later recollection.
- G
Your own figures and any claim of your own
Your account, valuations and any claim you have made or plan to make, as the working spreadsheets rather than PDF printouts.
Where to find it: The working files of whoever values your account each month.
Why we need it: A claim against you often sits beside money you are owed, and the two have to be set against each other before anything is conceded or settled.
How we will use it: We set the claim against your own position, so any settlement nets off the right sums.
Copies are fine. Send what you have and we will tell you what's missing.
- A
Claim stages: Entitlement, Evidence, Quantum and Assembly
We test the claim line by line
We check every figure against your subcontract and records, and tell you what each part is worth and what fighting it would cost. You decide what to accept or fight.
What you get: What each part of the claim is worth, and the claim set against what you are owed
We build your answer
We set each of their figures beside yours, every one backed by a document. Nothing goes out in your name until you have read it and approved it.
What you get: Your answer and the Scott schedule, with every figure traced to a document
Claim stage: Resolution
We negotiate it down, or see it through adjudication
We put your answer to your main contractor and negotiate. You decide whether to settle. In adjudication, we handle the money side for whoever runs it for you.
What you get: Every offer and concession recorded in writing
We close it out and hand over the Handover Pack
Get a free report on your claim
Answer the questions below for a free PDF report by email. Allow about three minutes; choose “Not sure” where needed.
Your report explains where you stand, the next steps to take and the records to gather. It also sets out how we could help for a fixed fee, with no obligation.
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Prevent it next time
Put a routine in place to reduce the risk of this happening again. Counterclaim Prevention.